On Sunday, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos expressed frustration [1] with what he described as possible "gamesmanship" involving media stories, largely coming from Boston, related to the Red Sox' interest in pursuing then-Toronto manager John Farrell. But on Tuesday, after the press conference introducing Farrell as the 46th manager in Red Sox history (following a compensation agreement between the two clubs that resulted in shortstop Mike Aviles going to Toronto), Sox GM Ben Cherington suggested that the Sox did not do anything underhanded.
"First off all, there was never any tampering this year or last year. That just didn't happen," Cherington said. "There was understandable speculation because of the history –– not just with John as our pitching coach, but the relationships here. So, understandable where the speculation came from. [We] appreciate Toronto's concern because, as I said, they're trying to do what we're doing and trying to get better, too.
"If I was in [Blue Jays CEO Paul Beeston] or Alex's shoes, it's not something you want to have to go through. But I can say definitively that wherever that speculation was coming from, it wasn't coming from me. The only conversations I had about the situation were directly to Paul and Alex until Saturday, when I got a chance to talk to John."
For Farrell's perspective on his departure from the Blue Jays and potential feelings of anger in Toronto about his exit, click here [2]. For complete Red Sox coverage, visit weei.com/redsox [3].
Links:
[1] http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2012/10/21/blue-jays-gm-alex-anthopoulos-on-john-farrells-dream-job-mike-aviles-david-carpenter-and-unfortunate-false-leaks-and-gamesmanship/
[2] http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2012/10/23/john-farrell-on-leaving-blue-jays/
[3] http://www.weei.com/redsox
[4] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/red-sox